Hotel near Disneyland for just grownups?

[bisous]

Well, and a baby, lol. DH and I are considering hitting up one night at Disneyland and then attending the parks in June in honor of our anniversary! We'd have my 6mo with us but she's super easy and mellow. We don't get much of a discount at the Disney hotels and especially not in June on a weekend! Does anyone have any place they would suggest? We don't need luxury but we're looking for a comfortable night and close proximity to the parks.

Thank you!

[lalasmama]

I should probably preface this by noting that I'm writing a book on Disneyland, so picking a hotel is a whole long chapter for me. I'll try to condense it some :)

I've stayed in 3 hotels along Harbor (the hotels to the east of Disneyland, off-site)... I'll go over them in a moment.

As far as proximity goes, the 4 closest, non-on-site hotels are, in order of closeness: Park Vue Inn (at the crosswalk, I'll call this PVI), Best Western Park Place Inn and Suites (at the crosswalk, I'll call this BWPPI), Tropicana (next to BWPPI, I'll call it Trop), and Desert Inn and Suites (next to Park Vue Inn, I'll call it DI&S).

BWPPI tends to be the favorite of the above 4, however, I believe PVI is earning some love. DI&S tends to be a "bargain basement" type place. Trop seems to be a good ole standby--I never hear much bad about it, but I never hear people singing it's praises either.

Let's look at the typical pros and cons of each place:

BWPPI: It's a chain, which gives some people some comfort, knowing what level of service and amenities to expect. Their name is misleading, as "suites" isn't truly what they have; they have larger rooms with a half-height wall to differentiate the two areas--a living area, and a bedroom area. For some families, this works well, for others, it doesn't. They also have typical 2-queen rooms, and some connecting rooms. They rent breakfast room space from the buffet place next door, but provide their own food. I've heard it's a typical continental breakfast. I haven't heard much about the pool here (actually going to research it more when we are there in December, so I have some first-hand experience!). Beds haven't been rumored to be especially bad or good, and I haven't heard about any noise complaints. Do be aware that it is a motel (as most on Harbor are), with no indoor walkways, and that it is a long building, so staying there may mean the front door is close, but there's always that chance that you will end up in the room farthest back, which is actually farther back than staying at another hotel's front-most rooms. Typical price-point here is around $180/night.

PVI: A small boutique hotel with approximately 90 rooms. They have recently renovated, and each room has been updated. They have an outdoor pool, nicely hidden with a brick and ivy "fence," so you don't feel like all your lumps and bumps are on display. Beds are super-comfy with pillowtops (freshly replaced!), and nice linen (actually the same sheets we have at home!). Towels are big and sometimes even fluffy. I'm a size 18, DH is 230lbs, and we both find the towels completely comfortable to cover all our bits-and-pieces from the bathroom to the bedroom. They have several different room styles--2 queens, 2 queens and a bunk bed, 1 king and a Jacuzzi, 2 queens in a full suite with a full kitchen, and more. They have a hot breakfast (cooked options include things like sausage, bacon, tater tot hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, along with typical continental breakfast fare), and they keep their lobby stocked with chocolate chip cookies. On the Disboards, a frequent poster had a bad experience at PVI (bed bugs, and a less than accommodating front desk staff) which left most Disboarders a little hesitant to stay there. We've been there twice since that report, and never seen evidence of any bugs, not even an ant when we've left an open candy bar on the counter next to a glass of soda. Housekeeping is good, refilling towels and making beds, and even occasionally making sweet/silly/cute scenes with toys left on the bed. (DD's AG doll has been found tucked in the bed using the pillow pet as a pillow, or snuggled up with DD's blankey, etc). They've passed the white-sock test once for us, and failed it once, but that failed one may have been our fault, or the fault of the Jacuzzi suite we had--not sure how often they shampoo the floors in the Jacuzzi suite, and, of course, just a little dirt from the floor looks like a ton when it gets wet from the Jacuzzi. General price-point is $180-220/night for a suite, less for a basic room.

DI&S: Basic motel. They have a good variety of room types--connecting rooms, 2 queen rooms, 2 queen suites, and more. This building is 5 stories high, so they have a lot of rooms, and it's another one that goes deep, so a room at the back can feel much further away. The elevator here sucks. Takes forever, and it seems like there's always a cleaning person on it. The pool is indoor (great!), but with a huge window (like 10x25 feet or so), which means everyone looks in on their way by. Unfortunately, I got 2 separate rashes from the hot tub at this hotel, and one took 3 weeks and a steroid cream to go away, so I won't be using it at future visits. Beds are fairly firm. At 2am the first night, after a full day of work, 2 flights, 4 hours in the air, 90 minutes on the tarmac, and a 30 minute taxi ride, I seriously considered that the floor may be more comfortable than the bed. Towels were tiny; not even enough to wrap all the way around my waist, let alone my chest too! The breakfast was meager--2 flavors of danishes, some dry cereal, apples, and oranges, juice, coffee. Where they tend to shine is their price points: For a weekend in Jan/Feb this year, we paid $69/night. For a suite on a weekend in Christmas time, we're paying $109/night. However, the later you wait, the higher the prices go, and within weeks of a trip, their prices will rival PVI and BWPPI.

Trop: Like I said, there's never a lot said about this hotel, which is kind of surprising to me, since it's in the top 4 closest places! But, I haven't heard enough bad stuff to say, "Don't stay there!", nor have I heard enough good stuff to think, "I gotta try there!"

Okay, my person thoughts on where to stay--

Go for BWPPI or PVI. Neither are luxury, but they are both clean, and across from the entrance of the park. You'll get a good night's sleep at both places. It will be a quick walk if you need to come back to the motel for something. We're partial to PVI, but that's because we've stayed there twice already, we know their routines, we know their property, we know their room options, we know they are close, and we know to stop at their gift shop for anything we need before going to the parks. We also know we don't get rashes from their pool ;)

If money is fairly tight (ie, under $100/night), look into the Motel 6 (I think it's on Clementine, but there's only 1 in the area, and it's newly renovated), or Super 8 on Katella. Both are a bit longer walk, but significantly cheaper, and just as clean and comfortable!

[MMMommy]

I recommend the Hyatt Regency Orange County. It is not really walkable to Disneyland, but they do offer a Disneyland shuttle that runs every half hour. They charge for adults now for the shuttle (like $8 per person or something) for all day shuttle access.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I don't think I'd pick a motor lodge style hotel for an anniversary stay but that's my snobbiness :). I did like the Candy Cane Inn (Lala- I'm always surprised when you leave that off your list b/c price points seem on par as does distance) but it is very basic. Clean, comfortable, they can deliver a basket of breakfast to your room if you spring for the nicer package (super handy!) and easy walk to the park. Loved the rooms at the Embassy Suites but not walkable.

[lalasmama]

I don't think I'd pick a motor lodge style hotel for an anniversary stay but that's my snobbiness :). I did like the Candy Cane Inn (Lala- I'm always surprised when you leave that off your list b/c price points seem on par as does distance) but it is very basic. Clean, comfortable, they can deliver a basket of breakfast to your room if you spring for the nicer package (super handy!) and easy walk to the park. Loved the rooms at the Embassy Suites but not walkable.

Honestly, it's the difference of maybe 0.2 of a mile farther, but for whatever reason, crossing over Disney Way just makes it seem so much further to me--definitely much further appearing that Trop or DI&S!

[SnuggleBuggles]

Honestly, it's the difference of maybe 0.2 of a mile farther, but for whatever reason, crossing over Disney Way just makes it seem so much further to me--definitely much further appearing that Trop or DI&S!

Ok. They do have a free shuttle. :)

[bisous]

Thanks, guys. Especially lalasmama and her pre-publication insights! We're trying to get stuff together for a date 2 weeks from now. I'm afraid we're going to be gouged. We live about 2 hours away so I'm still on the fence as to whether we'd like to sleep over or just wake up early and go. The prices are pretty discouraging. I'm starting to think that in order for it to be really worth it, we'd like to be ON the Disney campus. Although some of the options lalasmama has mentioned seem really reasonable. Decisions, decisions!

[lalasmama]

Motel 6 and Super 8 are both within a 15-minute walk, and both under $100/night for the 13th/14th :) Park Vue, Candy Cane Inn, and Desert Inn and Suites are all around $135/night for a 2 queen room. Honestly, I've heard good things about the Motel 6 (you can catch a tram to decrease your walking, if you want, or just walk the 15 minutes), and they just recently renovated. We've stayed at the Super 8 on Katella twice now, and it was my choice for solo trips. Again, it's about a 15 minute walk (but you pass a 7-11 on the way, so you can buy soda and such before the terrible prices at the park!). From the pictures I've seen for Motel 6, and the Super 8 we've stayed at (also recently renovated!), they are on par with Desert Inn, but about $40 cheaper :) Definitely not a luxury motel, but they both have great beds, and what more do you need with Disneyland just moments away?!?

:bag Don't take away my Disneyaholic card... But I can't see why people pay the prices they do to stay on-site. Let's be honest here.... If you stay at Paradise Pier, you have to cross the street, walk through the Grand Californian, and then through Downtown Disney, just to get to the main gates! Or, you can walk through GC and go to California Adventure through their own entrance. But still, why pay $250/night to have to do all that walking, when you could stay off-site and walk just across the street and walk a third of the amount to get to the same place? I mean, I understand the idea of the "Disney bubble", but you're going to pop the bubble at the crosswalk between GC and PP anyway! Maybe one day we will win the lottery and understand, but, until then, I just don't get it!

[kwc]

We've stayed at the Fairfield Inn twice... basic, clean, reasonable. Just a bit down Harbor from the 4 closest that Lalasmama listed... and actually closer than the Grand Californian where we stayed the first time (and where I got in an altercation with another mom in the laundry room)! I would stay there again (and almost certainly will). For me, the only reason to stay on-site at Disneyland would be for Magic Mornings/ Early Entry (which is not every day anyway).
http://anaheim-attractions.10-best.info/disney_map.html

If you are willing to walk another block or so, I would consider Hotel Menage which looks really nice (boutique style) at a reasonable price.
http://www.hotelmenage.com/home